The Dimensional Shift
by Qwerty282
Summary: The detonation of the slipspace drive goes wrong and the Spirit of Fire is engulfed in the blast. The Everest enters an unstable rupture. Jorge doesn't perish activating the slipspace bomb in the Ardent Prayer. The Forward Unto Dawn makes it through the portal. The Infinity enters a merged rupture. The universe they return to is very different from the one they left. Can they cope?
1. Prologue

A/N: Merry early Xmas,everyone! I'm gonna be out for the holidays so I decided to post this now as an early Christmas special update. Enjoy!

* * *

Prologue

* * *

_UNSC _Spirit of _Fire, Shield World 0459, February 25, 2531_

"Serina, can you do it?"

"It's done. You might want to hold onto something." The AI replied.

The captain promptly retreated to his chair and gripped the armrests tightly.

"Closing your eyes might help too." Serina added.

As the ship exited the planet, a purple aura enveloped the world and the lone colony ship before all three disappeared from the universe.

"Status!" Cutter barked as the lights flickered on and off.

"Unknown. The _Spirit of Fire_ has sustained minor hull burns from the detonating Shield World. The Port side is also heavily damaged from the collision with the Covenant Destroyer. 15 of our 30 Point Defence turrets have been destroyed. MAC systems are offline, but are repairable. ATAF turret rows G-K are destroyed."

"Location?" he asked.

"Cross-referencing star charts… Apparently we got lucky. The slipspace bomb going off threw all objects within a certain radius to random points in real space. According to my calculations, we are approximately 22 years of constant travel away from Reach."

_Cryo Room 3, Spirit of Fire, March 11, 2531_

"Captain, I would much rather stay awake to monitor this area!" Professor Anders protested.

"Professor, there's been no sign of the Covenant for almost 2 weeks. There's nothing to do," Captain Cutter replied simply.

"But Captain-"

"But nothing, Professor," he interrupted her, "You got us all out of there alive," he keyed a code into the cryopod's door, "Now get some rest."

As the doors closed, a look of guilt crossed Anders' face, "Not all of us, Captain. Not all of us."

Captain Cutter left the room, hesitating briefly at Sgt. Forge's empty pod. The man gave his life so everyone on the ship could live.

He walked through the corridors of the empty ship one last time, all remaining personnel having gone into cryo.

"Serina, status report." He barked as he re-entered the cryo room.

"Better than last week: 10 of our 30 Point Defence turrets are still molten slag. MAC systems are online. ATAF turret rows H-J are destroyed. Repairs to rows G and K have been completed, however."

Captain Cutter sighed in resignation. The ship was still not in very good condition.

"Serina, shut yourself down. I don't want you going rampant. Use a proximity activation code to wake yourself up." He muttered as he got into his pod.

"Of course sir." Serina's voice sounded distant and unclear as the cryopod door hissed shut.

* * *

_UNSC Supercruiser Everest, Psi Serpentis System, April 18, 2543_

"Lt. Whittier, fire up the FTL drive. Jump to the coordinates I've sent to your terminal," Vice Admiral Cole ordered, "Lt. Smith, fire 100 of our Shiva nukes into Viperidae."

"Aye, sir."

A purple disk appeared in front of the ship, shielded from the watchful eyes of the UNSC battlegroup by the horde of Covenant ships and the silhouette of the lookalike cruiser _Io_.

As his ship cruised into the rift, Cole sighed. If all went according to plan, he would be reunited with his URF commander and love Lyrenne Castilla. They would settle and build a life together on a remote world colonised by the URF.

Unfortunately for Cole, the multiverse had other plans.

The_ Valiant_-class Super-heavy shook violently, throwing some of the bridge crew to the ground.

"Whittier, report!" Cole shouted as he got up from the floor.

"Apparently the planet going nova and the unstable nature of an open slipspace rupture in a gravity well changed our exit vector," The Ops station Lieutenant replied, adjusting the glasses perched on his nose, "I'm not entirely sure where we are headed."

"Have Athena analyse the coordinates. Can you drop us out?" Cole inquired.

"Negative," a feminine voice originating from the projector replied, "The nature of the slipspace flux around us is unique—and highly unstable," the image of a Greek woman with an aegis and spear appeared, "If I attempt to take us out, half the ship may arrive in Alpha Centauri while the other half ends up in orbit around Harvest!"

"Thank you, Athena. ETA?"

"Two month, four days, zero hours and one minute, sir," Athena replied, "I suggest all non-essential personnel go into cryo."

Vice Admiral Cole nodded numbly as most of his hopes came crashing down. All he could hope for was that they came out in one piece. _So much for a secretive retirement_, he thought.

* * *

_Covenant Corvette _Ardent Prayer_, in orbit above Reach, August 14, 2552_

"Well, I've got good news and bad news," Jorge announced as he turned to Noble Six. "This bird took some fire and our thruster gimble is toast, which means the only way off this slag heap is gravity."

"And the good news?" Six asked.

"That was the good news."

"At current velocity, fifty-three seconds to..." Auntie Dot's voice piped in.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Jorge interrupted Dot mid-sentence. Reaching up, he undid the seals to his helmet and took it off, letting it drop to the floor behind him.

"Bad news is, timer's fried. I'm going to have to fire it manually."

"That's a one way trip," Six noted.

"We all make it sooner or later," Jorge replied humourlessly, "Better get going Six; they're going to need you down there."

With a quick yank, the dog tags around his neck snapped. He hesitated, holding them for a brief moment before passing them to Six.

"Listen," he said as the younger Spartan grasped his hand. "Reach has been good to me. Time has come to return the favour. Don't deny me this."

Hefting the smaller Spartan into the air one-handed, Jorge duck-walked to the edge of the barrier shield before saying one last thing:

"Tell them to make it count." With that, the Spartan-II gave the III a good shove, sending Six free-falling over and into the atmosphere of Reach.

As Six fell, he saw a purple aura envelop half the Covenant Supercarrier, before disappearing with the corvette, the centre of the Supercarrier, and Jorge.

* * *

_UNSC _Forward Unto Dawn_, the Ark, December 11, 2552_

The Warthog made the final leap and landed in the _Dawn_'s hangar bay. The Arbiter immediately dismounted from the turret and made a break for the bridge. The Chief, however, simply plugged Cortana into a nearby terminal.

Immediately, the ship's engine roared to life as the battered frigate attempted to make it to the Portal before Installation 04B blew up.

"Hang on…" Cortana shouted as the _Dawn_ reached its destination, purple glow enveloping them.

No one noticed a small golden orb follow them and latch onto the port side of the ship. And no one noticed the Portal beginning to fold in on itself. As the _Dawn_ entered the Portal to Earth, it collapsed, slipspace ruptures occurring randomly, the power source in the Ark having been damaged by the firing of Installation 04B.

The ship shook violently, throwing John to the floor. After a moment, the Spartan stood up.

"Cortana, what just happened?" he asked.

"I'm not entirely sure. I believe the Portal collapsed when we fired the Halo. I've referenced the star charts, however. We're home."

John couldn't help but sigh in relief. However, he couldn't help but feel that something was off…

* * *

_Onyx Dyson Sphere, April 2, 2553 (Real time), November 13, 2552 (Dyson time discrepancy)_

"Well, the Huragok have this place running." Halsey commented to no one in particular.

An explosion rang out somewhere in the facility.

"Ma'am, I think that crazy Monitor found us. Permission to engage?" a battered and promoted Lt. Fred-104 asked as he gripped his stolen Light Rifle tightly.

"Negative. I'm almost finished configuring the slipspace portal. Team Katana should be 'thawing' out… NOW."

As soon as the words left her mouth, the 5 Spartan-IIIs burst from the pods, gasping for breath.

"Ugh… What happened?" Dan-G246 mumbled as he rubbed thee back of his head.

Suddenly, as his HUD came back online, he noticed that there was a Lt. Junior Grade standing in front of him.

Instincts honed over 6 years of military training took over and he saluted sharply, simultaneously taking stock of the situation.

The rest of the team were busy adjusting to their surroundings. James-G007 was dusting off his SPI armour, typical him—always playing cool. Cassie-G119 was trying to wrap her head around the fact that Dante was dead, they had always been close. Gordon-G004 was staring at the MJOLNIR-clad Spartan-IIs in pure idol worship. Lance-G212 was saluting right next to him, just like the overly-professional kid he was.

"At ease, Spartan," Fred replied, "You ready to go?"

When Daniel replied in the affirmative, the elder Spartan nodded and passed him an M6D.

"Ash told me you worked best with a pistol. Let's see if you really are that good," Fred said.

An explosion rocked the facility again, causing the light bridge leading to the only entrance to flicker briefly.

"They're here, sir!" Kelly-087 shouted, raising her MA5K

"Kelly, take O and As the IIIs and ambush them by the door. I'll be right with you. Mark, Linda, give us some covering fire. Team Katana, protect the good doctor, will you?" Fred issued his orders.

"Oh, don't worry about me, Fred. The warp is almost programmed. I should have it done in a minute or two."

"Then you'll be protected for a minute or two," SCPO Mendez wheezed as he adjusted his body to have a clear shot at the door with his shotgun.

Miraculously, none of them had died during their 10 day stay in the shield world. During that time, they were able to find a colony of friendly Huragok, a rampant Monitor who believed that the Forerunners were still alive and that the Reclaimers were to be exterminated and a massive Forerunner bunker which was strangely uninhabited.

However, they were not without injuries. Fred cracked his shin bone. Ash was shot in the foot. Linda was hobbling after she tore her Achilles tendon falling too hard. Mendez was shot by a sentinel while protecting the doctor.

The door blew inwards, revealing a Monitor with a deep red eye and ten sentinels.

"Surrender, Reclaimers, and submit yourselves to have your memories stored and catalogued. It will do you no good to resist."

As one, the Spartans opened fire. Two of the sentinels fell immediately to the insane amounts of lead that were poured on them, while three more were blown into oblivion by Kelly's fragmentation grenades.

"How dare you! I'll have-" the Monitor never finished that sentence, for at that precise moment 3 shots from Linda's SRS and 2 from Mark's Binary Rifle shattered the Monitor's shielding and tore straight through his eye. The burnt and lifeless chassis of the Monitor fell to the ground with a clang.

The sentinels immediately fired their beams at the sniper duo, causing them to roll out of harm's way. The Spartans turned and opened fire again.

While the chaos of battle surrounded her, Dr. Halsey managed to configure the portal.

"It's active!" she shouted.

Two more went down as Team Katana opened fire, causing one to switch targets. Unfortunately, it missed and hit the control panel, a miss which resulted in its demise.

Fred withdrew his knife from the last sentinel's sparking body, "Is the portal ready?"

"I-I'm not sure. The control panel is fried. The system probably got damaged heavily. I don't even know if it's stable."

More sentinels began pouring into the room.

"I guess we'll just have to find out." Fred replied bluntly, "Spartans! Fall back to the portal. Covering fire! Take the Huragoks with you. I'll be the last to leave. Everyone else, in the portal. NOW!"

They all piled into the portal, Fred and Tom giving covering fire. As soon as Tom stepped backwards into the portal, Fred primed his last grenade and threw it on top of te wires before disappearing after his comrades into the portal.

* * *

_UNSC_ Infinity_, Te (Lekgolo homeworld), March 9, 2559_

"Slipspace engines charged!"

"Good, jump us to the opposite end of the planet, we need to shore up the defences before the Loyalists break through." The recently promoted Captain Lasky ordered.

"Sir!"

"Captain, reading multiple slipspace ruptures from… right in front of us," horror filled the young Lieutenant's face.

"What? Abort jump! ABORT JUMP!" Lasky shouted.

Unfortunately, the Captain's orders came too late. As the _Infinity_ tore a hole into slipspace, a Loyalist destroyer emerged from a slipspace rupture from right next to theirs.

The intermingling ruptures merged, slicing the destroyer clean in two. Immediately after that, the _Infinity_ soared into the now unstable rupture.

* * *

A/N: Okay. I just named every controversial slipspace manoevre/explosion and made the _Dawn_ make it intact through the portal. Anyways, all is not what it seems. Mass Effect, coming right up next chapter!

P.S. Just so you know, this fic will take a back seat to my other fic, _The Toa from Earth_ in terms of update priority. I'll update every time I get a chapter up or something.

_Q282__


	2. Arrival

A/N:Alright. Chapter 1 coming right up. I decided to introduce the Chief first because, well, he's the single most concentrated point of badassry in the Halo Universe, besides Noble Six, SgtMaj. Johnson and Cortana. Plus he has a freaking AI _inside his head._ The Council would have a field day, especially Sparatus. But that's a later chapter. Right now, enjoy that update so many of you wanted.

Thanks Jad440, I've corrected that error.

* * *

1: Arrival

* * *

_Earth, December 27, 2175_

Admiral Ethan Hernandez sat reclining on the command chair of the Command Station_ Frontier_ in orbit over Earth. He sighed as he rapped his knuckles on the armrests. Nothing was more boring than guarding Earth, the capital of Humanity and second most defended planet in Human space. They'd have to get past the choke point at Arcturus first, which was damned near impossible.

"Admiral Hernandez, sir! We've detected unknown energy readings originating from over Africa!" an Ensign shouted.

"Show me," the Admiral replied, worry etched over his face

If they'd managed to get this far, that meant either Arcturus Station had fallen, or that a new alien race had somehow managed to find Earth and travel using a new type of FTL. Either option was not entirely good.

As he gazed out towards the coordinates mentioned by the Ensign, he saw a large _rip_—for there was no other way to describe it—in space itself.

"Tell 4th Fleet to get in position to fire and wait for my command."

As soon as the Ensign relayed the orders, a huge ship appeared out of the middle of the rift, catching everyone off guard. It was bulky and grey and looked vaguely like an old rifle from the 21st century. It was as large as a cruiser—half a kilometre long. Even more surprising was the fact that the ship was not giving off any Eezo readings.

But what was most shocking was that the name of the ship. For, stencilled in English capital letters on both sides of the ship was the name UNSC _Forward Unto Dawn_.

* * *

"Chief, we made it." Cortana sounded positively happy.

"Praise the Forerunners. It appears your construct is correct, Spartan," the Arbiter's voice came from behind John, "Though it appears to be less chaotic and defended than when we left."

John squinted at Earth, one of the last standing UNSC planets. There were over a hundred small corvettes and frigates, as well as two destroyers, surrounding their exit vector, but no ODPs or cruisers. There was also no sign of a last stand, not even a battle. Even the design and build of the ships looked foreign. If it was even possible, the Earth looked more… pristine.

"Chief, Arbiter, I'm receiving a transmission from that small command station."

"Patch it through."

"This is the Human Admiral Ethan Hernandez of the SSV _Fuji_, Human Fourth Fleet. We are a peaceful space-faring race and an ally of the Citadel Council. We mean no ill will towards you or your race. A representative can be sent to-"

"I don't get it," Cortana interrupted, "It's a standard first contact package. Also, SSV? Citadel Council?"

"Excuse me, Admiral? This is Master Chief Petty Officer Sierra-117, acting captain of the UNSC _Forward Unto Dawn_. What's going on here?"

"Errr… OK Sierra-117. Mind me asking a few questions? Like, why are you speaking English? And why are there no Eezo readings coming from your ship?" the Admiral's voice sounded uncertain.

"How about you send a representative over? I've got a few questions of my own." John countered.

"… I'll be over shortly."

* * *

Admiral Hernandez gazed at the ship from the SSV corvette _Beacon_. It looked so alien, yet its acting captain spoke English. The ship's name was also in English too. It was damned confusing as hell.

They were nearing the hangar bay though, so the Admiral straightened his cap and ordered his N7 guards to fall in on him. What they saw when they got out made everyone gape. The hangar was absolutely huge. Not to mention tanks and some weird open-roof jeeps were scattered everywhere, as were several crates. Despite the ship being alien-looking on the outside, the interior and the vehicles looked so human in design.

"Ah. I assume you are the representative."

Heads turned towards the voice. What they saw was an 8-foot-tall saurian alien with a weird silver armour and even stranger amphibious-looking purple gun.

"Yes. I'm Admiral Hernandez. I assume you are Sierra-117?"

"Nay, human. I am Arbiter Thel'Vadam, Grand Kaidon of the State of Vadam of Sanghelios, former Fleetmaster of the Third Fleet of Particular Justice, and Commander in Chief of the Covenant Separatist forces. And, as of now, your escort. Come, the Spartan and his construct await you in the bridge."

Admiral Hernandez was lost in the numerous titles and honorifics, but nevertheless nodded politely and followed the "Arbiter" and motioned for his guards to fall in behind.

* * *

"Have you hacked into their systems yet?" John asked.

"Yes. For a heavily encrypted system, it was excruciatingly easy. Almost as if they only had to worry about humans hacking into it. No multiple bogus systems. No quadruple-password locks. No holographic eye scanners. No Synthetic/Organic blocks," Cortana muttered as she swiped through the data gleaned,

"According to this, we are currently in the year 2175. And it appears as if the UN didn't take control here. According to this, Earth is still fractured into individual countries. Also, almost all of their technology is based on an alien race known as 'Protheans'. They also have this thing called a Codex, some sort of encyclopaedia, and an Omnitool, which is supposed to be a replacement for a personal computer."

"So you're telling me, we've just been transported to an alternate dimension," John concluded.

Cortana nodded as John resisted the urge to facepalm in frustration. His famed luck both saves and kills him on a regular basis.

* * *

When they got off the excruciatingly slow elevator, the Arbiter led them through a series of narrow passages to the bridge. The Admiral could not help but notice that it was easily defendable if the ship was boarded, with restricting passageways and several chokepoints.

However, when the visitors entered the bridge, they were in for a surprise. A _very_ humanoid form clad in massive armour was standing over 7 feet tall and facing them. It was flanked by a nearly naked and very high-resolution human-looking blue VI.

"I assume you are Admiral Hernandez," the figure spoke in a very deep baritone voice while extending a hand to shake.

"Yes. You must be Sierra-117," Hernandez took the proffered hand and shook it rather hesitantly.

"Please, call him Master Chief, or Chief. He hates it when people call him Sierra for no reason," the VI spoke out for the first time.

The soldiers stiffened noticeably. Even the Admiral looked taken aback.

"Y-you're an AI?"

"UNSC Cortana-class Advanced Cyber-warfare Smart A.I. CTN-0452-9, at your service. But you can call me Cortana," she replied cheerily, but when the soldiers didn't respond, she continued, "What? Something I said?"

"How can you be so dumb as to create AIs? Synthetics only exist to destroy organics! Giving it control of a starship? Do you want to start a war?" the Admiral shouted at the Master Chief.

"I'm right here! And don't you know that it's impolite to talk about a girl in front of her?" Cortana retorted, "Besides, I haven't entered rampancy yet. And out of the over 5000 non-rampant AIs ever in existence since the 2300s, none have ever turned on their creators. And besides, we're not from this universe, so knock it off."

"I-" Hernandez was about to spout a counter-argument when the last part of the AI's statement caught him off-guard, "Wait, _not from this universe_?"

"Let me explain…" Cortana mimed pulling a chair underneath her and sat down, pulling up a picture of UNSC territory…

* * *

_Where we came from, humanity was fighting a bloody civil war against the pro-secession and colonial-supremacy faction known as the United Rebel Front. _

Cortana drew up an image of two rebel frigates going head-to-head against a UNSC destroyer.

_The war dragged on for decades. Eventually, in an effort to end the war decisively and on their terms, the UNSC created the Spartan-II super-soldier program._

Cortana switched the image to that of the 21 surviving and non-MIA/ONI Spartans, taken during the briefing for Operation_ Red Flag_.

_The only information I am authorised to tell you is that the trainees were subjected to harsh training and taught every trick of war. They were turned into the best soldier humanity could train and were given the best armour and weaponry we had._

Cortana brought up the schematics for MJOLNIR and the Spartan Laser.

_A team of four Spartans was enough to infiltrate rebel cell hiding in an asteroid, plant a beacon, and assassinate their leader._

_Then, first contact with the Covenant happened at the small farming colony of Harvest. They attacked and destroyed the colony without mercy. _

At this Admiral Hernandez perked up and seemed more attentive.

_A UNSC battlegroup was sent to investigate. Only one ship, the _Heracles_, made it back, heavily damaged. It returned with a single recording:_

Cortana pressed a holographic button, beginning the hated message that ended with over 500 glassed worlds and 40 billion dead on humanity's side.

Thel grimaced as the message played.

"_Your destruction is the will of the gods, and we are their instrument!"_

Admiral Hernandez looked sceptical, "You aren't making this up, are you?"

Arbiter and the Chief simply shook their heads. Cortana took this as her cue to continue. What followed were several recordings of the battles fought.

_Second Battle of Harvest: 40 UNSC ships versus one Covenant Superdestroyer. The Superdestroyer was destroyed, but at the cost of 13 UNSC ships._

The scene showed the Superdestroyer's directed energy weapons making Swiss cheese out of the UNSC ships before a coordinated MAC volley annihilated it.

_Battle of Circinius IV: The Covenant attacked en masse, destroying the entire battlegroup stationed there. Only one ONI Prowler, Spartan Blue Team and 3 military cadets made it off-world._

The scene showed camera footage of the devastation inflicted on the UNSC ground forces by the Covenant invaders. Bodies covered the floor, intermingled with the corpses of Grunts and Jackals.

_Battle of Jericho VII: On of the fiercer engagements with the Covenant. Several Spartans were present on Jericho VII during the Covenant offensive. However, the UNSC was forced to abandon the planet after the civilians were evacuated as it no longer was strategically sound to remain there._

The scene shifted to the Covenant glassing of the planet. Hernandez and Thel watched in horror and disgust (respectively) as the Covenant Corvettes fired their glassing beams, vitrifying the surface, leaving nothing but a glassy sheen behind.

_Cole's Last Stand at Psi Serpentis: Over 300 Covenant ships were destroyed and over half of the participating UNSC forces survived the battle._

Hernandez watched the entirety of the battle in stunned silence, amazed at the brilliance and courage of this Admiral Cole.

_Battle of Sigma Octanus IV: The first significant UNSC victory since Psi Serpentis. The colony is saved, though the UNSC naval forces suffer considerable losses._

_The Fall of Reach: Reach was the second largest UNSC world in terms of military and population. 314 Covenant ships slugged it out against the entire 200 ships that were the Reach Defence Fleet and 20 Orbital Defence Platforms. 130 UNSC ships were lost in exchange for over 200 Covenant ships. However, the battle was lost and whatever pitiful remnants of the human forces limped away._

Admiral Hernandez was shocked at the scale of the battle, watching as ships exchanged blows and fighters exploded in brilliant balls of fire. The scale of the Human defences reminded him of Arcturus Station. Was Reach the equivalent of Arcturus in this Spartan's universe? If so, it was much better defended than Arcturus Station; the planet had a multitude of dreadnought-sized ships and countless cruisers, not to mention those enormous orbital guns, in position to defend it. Hernandez doubted even the Turian Hierarchy's entire fleet could take them down.

However, he was distracted by the AI, "Should we tell him? What comes next is classified information to anyone not part of the UNSC. I'm willing to bet much of HIGHCOM doesn't even know the full truth."

"…" John hesitated momentarily before saying, "Do it."

Cortana nodded before turning towards the Admiral and continuing her tale. This time she spoke grimly of Halo, the Flood, the Great Schism, the Battle of Earth, and the Ark.

* * *

A/N: I've tried to make the First Contact scenario as realistic as possible. I think I failed. Poor Admiral Hernandez. His head will be spinning after Cortana's done with the history lesson. Alright, that's about it for now.

Next chapter: John goes to have a little "chat" with some powerful people.

Till the next update!

_Q282__


	3. Journey to the Citadel

A/N: Finally I'm back. Amazing what clearing brain clogs can do for you.

* * *

2: Journey to the Citadel

* * *

_Everest-class dreadnought SSV _Fuji_, Earth, December 27 2175 _

Admiral Hernandez walked back through the halls of his dreadnought, his head swimming with all the information he was bombarded with during the meeting. Who knew that there was apparently an alternate dimension out there where Humanity had been pushed to the brink of extinction? If the Illusive Man or the Terra Firma party found out about this, they'd have a field day.

Numbly, he walked into the bridge and sat down in his command chair. The brass had told him to escort the alien ship to the Citadel. Said something about an STG team finding out and reporting them. Luckily, they were able to convince the STG team of what really happened. It also helped that they also saw and overheard what happened. For once, the Salarians' nosy behaviour paid off in their favour.

"Alright, Master Chief. Please steer your cruiser after my dreadnought and-"

"The _Dawn_ is a frigate."

"Err… alright. Please steer your _frigate_ after my dreadnought and follow me into the Charon Relay."

As soon as the call was terminated, Admiral Hernandez shook his head in awe. If that thing was a frigate, he didn't like the implications of how large a dreadnought would be where the Chief came from. They certainly wouldn't be those large ships he saw in orbit over Reach in the vids that AI showed him.

He still had his doubts about the whole story. Forerunners? A genocidal conglomerate of aliens hell-bent on Humanity's destruction? Massive weapons capable of destroying a stellar disease? It just didn't seem feasible or likely. For all he knew, the Chief was a robot the AI had built with her army of Sangheili slaves.

* * *

_UNSC _Forward Unto Dawn_, Charon Relay, December 27 2175_

In the bridge, a Spartan, an AI, and an Arbiter were currently discussing their course of action. The journey to the Relay had taken longer than the Admiral anticipated because of the _Dawn_'s inability to break the light speed barrier in normal space. The crew took the opportunity to plan.

After kicking his guards out of the _Dawn_'s bridge, Cortana and the Arbiter gave a slightly modified version of their story and the Chief swore him to secrecy on the matter, he returned to his ship with his guards. He passed them a copy of the Codex, not knowing Cortana already "obtained" a copy from his ship's databanks.

"So, Cortana will leave a copy of herself to watch over the _Dawn_. Everyone will get out and see this 'Council' about this situation. Everyone good?"

"Not I, Reclaimer."

Everyone whirled around to see who it was. What they did not expect was for a golden orb with three eyes to float into the room. It had this strange calmness about it, as if it was in a constant meditative state.

"I am 05-032 Mendicant Bias. I have come seeking my redemption for a billion sins of the past."

Looks of recognition dawned upon the faces of the occupants of the bridge. To John, it was the Forerunner ancilla in the Ark terminals. To Cortana, he was the AI she fought on Delta Halo. To the Arbiter, he was the Oracle of _High Charity_.

"I have analysed the readings I have taken of this realm. It appears as if you have discovered yet another dimension. In a time long past, my creators controlled this galaxy and the slipspace realm within 4 galactic radii. They also were making experimental observations in The Glow and shunspace, among numerous others. They were all linked in a web of different realities.

"By using unstable slipspace ruptures, we may have entered another dimension entirely. I wish to assist you when it comes to convincing this Council of theirs of our origins, if you would let me. It is the least I can do to relieve myself of the burden of the guilt of my betrayal."

John hesitated. He knew this AI was responsible for the fall of the Forerunners—at least partially so—from the terminals. What if it decided to betray them too?

"Whatever your decision is, Reclaimer, I will submit myself to it. It is more than I deserve for betraying my creators to the Flood. It was in my incompetence and naivety that I listened to the Beast's lies eons ago.

"Now, millennia after my idiocy unleashed an atrocity on the galaxy, I have decided to aid and guide your species and help them achieve their former glory, thus I followed you into the Portal. However, after the slipspace mishap, my priorities changed and I decided to help you in this dimension. I can only hope you will allow me to serve and help."

After an extended period of silence, John nodded almost imperceptibly, "We'll need all the help we can get. But know this; I have killed a double-crossing Monitor before. You are no different. If you decide to stab me in the back, I** will** kill you."

Behind him, the Arbiter nodded grimly in agreement, 343 Guilty Spark's betrayal still fresh in his mind.

"Oh. Wow." Cortana's voiced broke the silence, holographic finger pointing forward.

All heads turned towards the window display and were promptly stunned into silence, even the Arbiter's mandibles fell slack. There, in orbit around Pluto, was a massive 15 km structure with a glowing blue core. They watched as the Admiral's dreadnought aligned with the Relay and was enveloped in a blue glow before being shot forward in a blue blur.

* * *

Cortana began muttering excitedly under her breath as she steered the ship to match the SSV_ Fuji_'s course to enter the Relay.

John looked uneasy as the _Forward Unto Dawn_ entered the Mass Effect field and was propelled along the length of the Relay. Using new or alien technology always put him on edge now. Almost activating Halo would do that to you.

The stars around the _Dawn _blurred into streaks for a moment before resolving themselves into specks of light. Around the Relay were hundreds of ships of all kinds, ready to defend the gateway to humanity's capital. Cortana quickly referenced the star charts.

"Amazing. According to this, we're in the Arcturus system; nearly 37 light years away. We've just been transported 37 light years in a matter of seconds. This journey would take a week in slipspace," she breathed as she continued to manipulate holographic controls.

Cortana tracked the Admiral's ship's course as it travelled towards the other Secondary Relay around Arcturus. Smoothly, she made a slipspace jump to the opposite end of the system, near the Relay. Travel took a grand total of 0.4673325 seconds, by her count.

* * *

"What the hell was that?" was the first thing out of Admiral Hernandez's mouth once they exited into real space, "That energy was messing with the Eezo drives of the Fifth Fleet, not to mention those weird portals. It looked like you tore a hole in space itself!"

"That is quite an accurate description of what we did Admiral. It's a slipspace rupture, our means of FTL," the AI's voice came over the comm. system.

Admiral Hernandez grit his teeth at its voice; to him, AIs still meant danger and he wasn't about to trust it just yet, "Fine. Let's get a move on then. Helmsman, FTL to the Relay, best time."

* * *

_3 hours later_

John stood in the armoury, picking his weapons. Thanks to the Separatist and prolonged docking with the CCS _Shadow of Intent_ during the Battle of the Ark, there was limited Covenant weaponry there.

He slung an MA5C ICWS over his back, relishing the familiar weight of the gun. Then he proceeded to grab two Type-1 Energy Swords and, after making sure their charges were full, magnetically attached them to either leg.

He had gotten bored of watching Cortana Relay-hop ages ago, so he decided to pick out his weapons for self-defence. If they were going to meet this "Citadel Council", he was going in prepared. His experience with large alliances of alien races was not exactly pleasant.

"Chief, the Admiral says that we are approaching the Citadel. I'm sure you want to see it, right?" Cortana's voice came over the intercom.

The Master Chief grunted in acknowledgment and made his way to the bridge.

* * *

Cortana and the Arbiter stood in the bridge, gazing into last Relay they needed to jump. As soon as the Admiral's dreadnought passed through the Relay, Cortana fired up the _Dawn_'s engines and followed, just as the Chief walked through the door.

The stars spun, and as they settled into their new positions, the crew of the _Forward Unto Dawn_ got their first glance of the Citadel.

"That's it? For a station supposed to be hub of the galactic community and housing the centre of galactic politics the, I expected it to be a bit… bigger," Cortana said as she observed the 50 km structure.

Murmurs of agreement escaped from the occupants of the bridge. Forerunners were capable of building way bigger installations, like the Lesser Ark, which was over 127,000 km in diameter. Even the Covenant were able to master building the 348 km wide _High Charity_. The Citadel, however, was barely twice as long as a CCS-class Supercarrier.

"Never mind, all we have to do is play it nice and hope we get away. No doubt they'd want our tech, but we can't let them have it, especially since 40% of the stuff we have on board is prototype, Separatist, or ONI tech," John stated.

"_Forward Unto Dawn, I've received confirmation from Alliance control. You are authorised to use Dock E-25."_ Adm. Hernandez's voice came in over the comms.

Chief and Thel took this as the signal to leave for the hangar, the latter signalling for Bias to follow while John yanked Cortana, leaving her copy to manage the docking manoeuvres and security of the ship.

They were going to have a date with the most powerful beings in this galaxy.

* * *

A/N: Yep. Chief and Cortana twisted the truth a bit when it came to the Flood and Halo. And yeah, I'm dragging out the meeting.

Seriously though, comparatively, ME ships are miniscule compared to Halo ships (Forerunner Fortress Ship, for example). And may I also remind you that the Citadel, one of the largest installations in ME, is 50 km long, while the Onyx Dyson Sphere is _300 million kilometres_ in diameter. No wonder they aren't impressed.

Till next chapter!

_Q282__


	4. Politics, How Tiresome

A/N: Hello again! And another chapter of TDS is right here! Enjoy.

P.S. To everyone worried about the other ships,don't worry, they'll be turning up soon enough.

* * *

3: Politics, How Tiresome!

* * *

The boxy cruiser-sized vessel followed the Alliance dreadnought into the docking bay before breaking off and entering an adjacent one. There were no special arrangements other than a C-Sec squad and Spectre, despite the alleged First Contact scenario.

Every dock in the Citadel had universal docking mechanisms; many speculated it was because of the vast number of species thought to be under the care of the Protheans when they built the station. Thus, any ship from any species was able to dock with any bay in the Presidium ring without difficulty.

The_ Forward Unto Dawn _drifted into the bay and was clamped in position. As soon as it was stationary, the hangar bay opened and the small team exited.

The Spectre, an Asari named Aleina, stepped forward to greet the newcomers. To her and her squad, it was rather clear that the two bipedal beings were of different species. She had never seen the four-jawed one before. The larger, armoured being looked human or Asari in shape, although she had only seen Krogan grow to that size. They were followed by what appeared to be a drone of some kind.

"Greetings. My name is Aleina. I'm with the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance. My squad and I were assigned to escort you to the Council Chambers. Admiral Hernandez and his personal escort will be meeting us shortly," she said, expecting either the tall four-jawed being or the armoured behemoth to answer.

She was, therefore surprised and alarmed when the drone answered instead, "Greetings, Spectre Aleina. It's a pleasure to meet you. I am 05-032 Mendicant Bias. You may, however, call me Bias. My companions are-"

Mendicant Bias never got to finish his statement; for at that moment, every C-Sec officer drew their weapons and pointed them at Bias, accompanied by shouts of, "AI!"

In response, both the Arbiter and the Chief drew their weapons. John drew his MA5C while Thel drew his Carbine and levelled them at the officers.

"My, a little trigger-happy, are we?" Cortana remarked in John's helmet, eliciting a grunt of annoyance from the supersoldier.

"AIs aren't allowed in Citadel territory and are a threat to all organic life! Decommission it at once!" a Turian officer shouted.

The Chief lowereed his gun and took 2 long strides right up to the C-Sec officer, who involuntarily flinched at his size. The Human and Asari next to him both took a step back.

The Master Chief leaned forward, emphasizing his height and growled, "Make me."

A tense standoff ensued, before the Turian conceded and replied, "Fine. But when it decides to stab you in the back, I won't stop it. Follow us."

As the group walked towards the Council, Admiral Hernandez and his team of N7 marines joined up with them and continued on their journey. Shortly after, the delegation arrived outside the Council Chambers to find the newly appointed human ambassador, Donnel Udina, already waiting outside.

"Finally you've arrived. The Council has been waiting for us to explain this mess. Follow me," he grumbled, his trademark scowl plastered on his face.

* * *

"Ah, here are the crew of the 'Mystery Vessel'. I wonder, is there anything else the Alliance is keeping from us? Like the discovery of a new species?" the Turian Councillor, Sparatus, sneered as soon as the delegation arrived.

"This is an outrage! The Systems Alliance has absolutely nothing to do with this!" Udina declared passionately.

"Then would you care to explain why they speak Human Common?" Sparatus shot back, "Besides, I thought the Systems Alliance was the representative for _all_ Humanity."

"Hang on here," Hernandez broke up the argument, "I am sure you've received the reports of the STG team, Councillors. Their report should prove that we are as clueless as you as to who these are. Why don't you confirm it with our guests?"

"Well said Admiral," Tevos, the Asari Councillor replied, seizing the chance to break up the argument between Sparatus and Udina; turning her attention to the Spartan, she asked, "Okay, now can you please tell us who you are?"

The Arbiter stepped forward, "Noble Councillors, I am Arbiter Thel'Vadam, Kaidon of the state of Vadam. My companions are the Spartan Master Chief of the UNSC and the Oracle Mendicant Bias," Thel replied, "I am a Sangheili and he is a Human. What the ambassador said just now is correct. We are not from this dimension, so you would not have encountered my kind."

"Alright… Now... Master Chief, can you explain why you are able to speak Human Common and yet not be affiliated with the Systems Alliance?" Tevos continued, "In fact, are you really a human?"

"I am not an expert in this. Perhaps I should let someone else do the explaining to you," John replied, "As for my species, I am completely human."

With that, the Chief yanked Cortana and tapped the chip on the holographic podium, allowing her to transfer her consciousness to the Citadel systems.

"Amazing. Technology capable of storing VI in chip which can be interfaced with hardsuit incredible. Remote transfer of data into terminal impressive." Valern immediately perked up at this.

Cortana rolled her eyes, "My name's Cortana, and I swear, if I get referred to as 'VI' one more time here…"

"AI!" Valern shrieked, and promptly all weapons were trained on the podium.

"You dare bring an AI into the Citadel? Are you insane? It'll kill us! Decommission it at once!" Sparatus shouted, gesturing wildly.

"When are you going to get over your paranoia of AIs? Just because someone watched too many horror vids doesn't mean every AI is going to try and kill you," Cortana replied, "And shooting the podium won't help. Unlike all your primitive AIs, I don't need a quantum matrix to live. If you shoot this podium I'll just sit around in the Citadel systems and wait for the Chief to find another port to insert my data chip."

"See? She's dangerous!" Sparatus continued, his voice rising, "Get C-Sec and the STG to purge it!"

"Excuse me? If I was going to kill everyone, this station would be nothing but debris by now. There are sufficient explosive substances to blow up this entire station, all within my virtual reach." Cortana elaborated while examining her holographic nails, "Besides, I doubt your entire STG would be able to make a dent in my systems. But I think we all are missing the point here. I'm supposed to explaining how we got here, was I not?"

"Indeed, please continue." Valern conceded with a shaky voice, his scientific curiosity temporarily overcoming his paranoia.

"Well, you see, the crew of the UNSC _Forward Unto Dawn_ are from an alternate universe where humanity are on the receiving end of a genocide campaign. I, along with Mendicant Bias, have theorised that due to the power cut to our FTL portal, we were transported across dimensions to this universe."

"And you expect us to believe that?" Sparatus scoffed, "You're an advanced AI. You could've just made all that up."

"Not necessarily. Salarian scientists have theorised the existence of multiple alternate realities. Possible for them to have jumped dimensions." Valern countered.

"Anyways, if you don't believe me, you can always use this 'Asari mind meld', as you call it, on the Chief to determine whether we speak the truth," Cortana suggested.

Tevos gasped, "Why haven't we thought of that? Yes there is no way you can lie to us that way. We can certainly do that to find out the truth," turning to the Spectre in the delegation, she asked, "Aleina, would please meld with… the Chief to determine the truth?"

"Yes, Councillor."

Meanwhile, John opened a private comm. channel with Cortana, "Is this really necessary?"

"Yes. I don't know whether Thel is mentally trained enough for this, or whether it would be an insult to his honour; you know how Sangheili are. The Asari melding does not apply to non-Organic organisms, so that leaves you. And don't worry, she won't be able to see anything you don't want her to see. Just block it out."

The Chief grunted in reply, "Fine."

He hesitantly removed his helmet, eliciting gasps of astonishment and/or shock from everyone present. There was, without a doubt, a human underneath the armour. His unnaturally pale face was scarred in several places, and stubble had begun to grow on his chin. His short brown hair was unkempt, a result of spending months of battle in his armour, and his bright blue eyes shone with cold fierceness and determination. Yet, his face was solid and emotionless as a rock, his features micromanaged in a way only a highly trained soldier could do.

Aleina swallowed her apprehension and asked, "Are you willing to do this? If you are unwilling, you may be seriously hurt." _Or I would be_, she thought as she noted his height.

He nodded, "Do it."

"Very well," the Spectre said, her eyes going dark as she cried, "Embrace eternity!"

* * *

_Aleina watched as Humanity advanced on Earth, known there as Erde-Tyrene, ages ago. However, there were a great deal more variety of species present than on Earth in her universe. She watched as the various species allied themselves, and made a push out into the stars. She senses a small tingle of curiosity from the Chief, but she ignores it, dismissing it as him simply wanting to see his genetic history personally._

_She watched as the various races squabbled with each other and fractured, warring among themselves. Then one race swept over the others, unifying them under one banner, based on the planet Charum Hakkor._

_She then watched as first contact is made with another race, the San'Shyuum. They create an Alliance._

_She watches as first contact is made with a humanoid race known as the Forerunners. They begin a cold war._

_Then disaster strikes: The Flood. She watches in horror as the parasite devours worlds upon worlds. Then Humanity starts pushing into Forerunner territory in order to keep their weakened war machine running. The Forerunners counterattacked._

_Unable to withstand, Humanity is defeated and devolved. She is horrified at this act, which made the Krogan Genophage look like charity._

_She watched as Humanity got back on their feet and strove forward, advancing their technology back to the steam age. However, their culture and weapons remained low-tech._

_Then, disaster strikes again; a pulse of energy hits Earth, killing all life there. However, she soon sees how the Forerunners re-seeded the Earth with Humanity._

_She watched as history mirrors that of the Earth in her universe. Then, in 2148, history begins to divulge. She watches as Humanity once again wars against itself; no Element Zero was found on Mars._

_The UNSC was founded. Aleina is amazed as Humanity discovers slipspace, launching colony ships to uncharted systems, beginning the Golden Age of Humanity._

_The Insurrection is begun due to unfair treatment of the Outer Colonies. She begins to sense memories being withheld, but doesn't push. She can tell it is a sensitive topic._

_Then, all of a sudden, one colony, Harvest, goes dark. She watches as Humanity is faced with genocide, a "holy war" waged by a conglomerate of aliens known as the Covenant. She watches as the Chief's Spartans are deployed to fight, and how they are pushed back every time._

_She watches in shock as the Covenant glass entire planets and kill civilians without discrimination. She watches as Human naval forces sacrificed themselves to ensure civilians made it off the planet. This causes her to admire the tenacity and sacrifice of this version of Humanity in the face of overwhelming odds._

_Then, she watches as Reach, which she senses holds some significance in the Chief's heart, is glassed by the Covenant, and feels his pain as he watches, knowing his Spartans are down there. The following months go by in a blur, only snippets, small glimpses are shown. _

_She watches as the Covenant is fractured and the Separatists turn and help Humanity. She watches as the silver-armoured Sangheili currently in the Council Chambers kills the one responsible for the entire war, and as they escape—flying through the portal and into this universe._

_Before she breaks the connection, she senses a thought from the Chief, asking her to keep what she saw secret. Shocked from what she was witness to in his mind and predicting the potential backlash to this, she agrees to his request before severing their connection._

* * *

Aleina gasped as she broke the connection, falling onto her back and attempting to regain her breath. John also looked slightly shaken, although he did an extremely good job of hiding it.

"Well, Aleina? What did the melding confirm?" Councillor Tevos asked, curiosity seeping through her voice.

Aleina stumbled a bit, before turning to the Council, "Honoured Councillors, what the AI has said is true."

This elicited murmurs from everyone present.

"In fact, his version of Humanity has been through tribulations which would make the Rachni Wars and Krogan Rebellions look like petty fights between children," she declared.

This caused the murmuring to turn into full-blown debate and discussion. This also elicited a scowl from the Turian Councillor.

"We all know genetic memory never lies," Aleina continued, "and what his genetic memory tells me confirms everything. He is indeed from another universe."

"Okay…" Tevos began hesitantly, "Now that that is settled, what do you intend to do?"

"Well, our ship has too much sensitive information to be shared with anyone, so we will remain as an independent party. Also, you impose too many unreasonable conditions in order for us to join you," the Arbiter stated, "But we cannot afford to operate by ourselves. Once we come to a final decision, though, we will inform you."

John, now with his helmet back on, nodded in agreement.

Tevos nodded in acceptance of their decision, declared, "If that is all, I declare this meeting adjourned. If you wish to tour the Citadel, Spectre Aleina will be your guide."

Aleina nodded as the delegation proceeded to leave the Council Chambers. Unknown to everyone, a shadowy figure was watching from the shadows.

As it turned to leave, it activated his comm., "Eyes-1, this is Shadow-1. Target is confirmed to be a human from another dimension. Orders?"

"Tail him. If the opportunity comes to confront him alone, seize it to convince him to join our cause. He has a lot to offer to Humanity."

"Yes, sir. Shadow-1 out."

* * *

A/N: Uh oh... It looks like Cerbereus is getting involved. Anyways, I'm delaying the surprise (can't say what it is, now can I?) for the first true battle in this story. Still... it's bloodshed and Arby-Chief badassery, people!

Now, few things...

First off, the Council is already informed of the entire thing at Earth, thanks to the STG captain and Hernandez's communiques. Therefore, there are no "WTF are you" moments, until next chapter that is. And Cerbereus knows because, as usual, it has moles everywhere.

Next, the reason why Aleina could see prehistoric Humanity's history is because she's viewing his genetic memory, which is like the entire history of his species. And we all know how old Humanity is in Halo.

Lastly, the idea for the mind meld is based completely on _Freedom Guard_'s story Mass Effect X Halo: Spartan Dawn. In fact, a couple of themes in this story were inspired by said story. Keyword being "inspired", because, as you will see, I'm going to make it a bit more... balanced (or unbalanced, depends on your view) and chaotic. I am above plagerism. In fact, I detest stories which copy entire chapters and tweak only a few words before the author claims it as their own.

Well, now that that's outta my system, I'll conclude my AN here. Till next chapter!

_Q282__


End file.
